AMT Cooking Up Fun and Helping Others

Every year during the holidays, AMT has a tradition of serving others and helping those in need. This year AMT cooked up some fun and donated to a worthy cause.

AMT hosted a cooking challenge and “charged” an entry fee of at least three necessary healthy food items for the Capital Area Food Bank.

“AMT employees were enthusiastic and donated more than the required amount,” said Becky Stahl, AMT Chief Financial Officer. “We delivered 200 pounds of healthy non-perishable food to the Capital Area Food Bank.” CAFB is the largest organization in the Washington metro area and one of the largest in the United States. AMT chose CAFB because of its long history of feeding the hungry in our region and focusing on providing healthy food to combat chronic illness associated with malnutrition.”

“Events like this one are great for deepening cross departmental connections,” said AMT President Doug Woods. “Interacting with your colleagues in a manner different from the ‘normal script’ creates stronger bonds, which in turn makes work easier and helps accelerate the high value work we do for the industry and our members!”

AMT employees gathered at Cookology, a recreational cooking school, located in the Dulles Town Center in Sterling, Va., donning chefs hats and aprons, employees were divided into four groups of 12. Teams were formed ahead of time based on a pre-event survey of food preferences and cooking skills, as well as dispersing departments among the teams with the goal to interact with colleagues that aren’t often working together on a regular basis.

Once presented with ingredients, teams had one hour to plan and prepare an entire meal (vegetable, starch, protein) and a dessert for each person on the team plus a plate for the judges. Dishes were judged on taste, creativity, plating, and best use of the mystery ingredient: cranberries. While the judges deliberated, teams sat down and enjoyed their meals.

“It was fun to work with folks from other departments,” said Matt Lutz, Business Solutions Manager “No matter your level of cooking experience, we all contributed and experienced new flavors from diverse cultures.”

Diversity may have been the key ingredient for the winning team, which created perfectly grilled steak with a Latin sauce and reduced balsamic drizzle complemented with vegetables and potatoes spiced with flavors from five continents. Oh, and dessert featured a cranberry-cherry compote.

All in all, everyone had fun and worked together to accomplish a goal. Something every business needs.